Bathing-cap.



, Paten ted Mar. 5, won I. F. KEPLER.

BATHING GAP.

(Appli tion filed Aug. 25, 1900.)

(No Model.)

[nvenior Azzy Witnesses m: Noam: warns on mom-uwq. WASHINFTON, u. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT IRWIN FLOYD KEPLER, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE B. F. GOODRIOH COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

BATHlNG-CAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of To ctZZ whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, IRWIN FLOYD KEPLER, a citizen of the United States,residin g at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, have invented a certain newand useful Improvement in Bathing-Caps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in rubber bathing-caps.

The seamless cap shown in the drawing represents the preferred embodiment of my invention; and it consists, as shown therein, of a tight-fitting portion, the edge of the headopening, (marked 1,) adapted to the contour of the head, and an enlarged pouch, (marked 2,) to contain the hair of the wearer,having the shaping and strengthening ribs, (marked 3.)

Bathing-caps as now made are either composed of two disks of sheet-rubber united at their edges, one disk having a headopening in it, or composed of two sheets of rubber united at the top and side edges to form a pouch or bag-like head-covering. It has been the practice in the manufacture of such rubber bathing-caps to cut out the section of the article from uncured fine-cut rubber sheets, the cut edges of the sheets adhering from the pressure of the cutting knife or die, and while so adhering the edges of the sheets are generally either bound by a reinforcin g-strip sewed over the seam or stamped together or united by a thin coating of rubber-cement. The articles are then vulcanized by any of the usual processes. The seams and joints thus made are liable to split and soon to leak. To remedy this defect, various methods have been adopted to produce a solid seam by inducing a more complete union between these out edges. To this end it has been the practice to smooth the seams with a suitable tool or to hammer them over a mandrel with a round surface, using rubber solvents and cement to make a lasting joint; but it is found that with seams so produced the difficulty is not permanently Letters Patent No. 669,343, dated March 5, 1901.

Application filed August 25, 1900. Serial No. 28,000%. (No model.)

obviated, and the caps so made do not long remain water-tight when used and are both expensive and shapeless.

It is the object of my invention to produce a seamless cap of an attractive appearance. To attain this object, I make a bathing-cap from clear-rubber solution by dipping a wooden, clay, or glass form whose exterior surface is of the size and shape desired for the cap into a pn re-rubber solution reduced to the consistency of thin molasses and containing the substances required for vulcanization. The solution or compound is distributed on the surface of this form in a thin film. This film of solution is allowed to become set, but to remain so sticky that by repeating the dipping operation the desired thickness may be built up on the form. The coating produced will be homogeneous and while fresh is subjected to the heating or other process of vulcanization. The cap thus produced may be removed from the form by inflation. This process produces a cap entirely without seams which, by reason of the forms upon which it is shaped, has reinforcing or strengthening ribs radiating from its center toward the edge of the head-opening, these resulting ribs enabling it to maintain approximately its form when in use, while the edge of the head-opening may, like the ribs, have a greater thickness of material to give it greater elasticity and strength. The cap produced by this process is attractive in appearance, and, being made Without seams, is permanently Watertight.

I claim- As a new article of manufacture a vulcanized-rubber seamless bathing-cap having reinforcing-ribs.

August 9, 1900.

IRWIN FLOYD KEPLER.

Witnesses:

PHILIP HENRY FERRIOT, BURTON FOSTER STAUFFER. 

